Background check of fired Fort Worth cop raised questions about his ‘racial tolerance’

A Fort Worth police officer who was recently fired for posting “racially insensitive” material on social media had posted similar material before getting a job at the department, according to documents obtained by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Chadwick Hughes was terminated in February after an officer found a questionable post on Jan. 30 and reported it, Chief Neil Noakes said. It is not clear what Hughes posted or where, but his Facebook page has since been deleted.

However, during his interview process, the police department was warned by a woman that Hughes had posted material on Facebook that didn’t make him seem like a tolerant person, according to Hughes’ Fort Worth Police Department application and personnel file.

In the background check, the same woman who alerted police to Hughes’ Facebook posts also wrote that she wouldn’t recommend hiring him because he wanted to be a police officer for the “power.” Others who filled out the same questionnaire about Hughes did not say that he was racially intolerant.

The records pertaining to Hughes also show that he was denied a position at several other police departments for various reasons. Grapevine police denied his application because he wasn’t honorably discharged from the military. Agencies in California denied him for having too many traffic tickets and a once suspended license. He was denied from the Fort Worth Police Department in 2016 for lying during his polygraph test, but hiring managers in 2017 said he was honest about the situation and absolved him.

Hughes could not be reached for comment. An interview request with Chief Neil Noakes wasn’t fulfilled by the Fort Worth Police Department. Noakes was not the chief of police when Hughes was hired, but did make the decision to terminate Hughes.

Other issues

Hughes had a long history of bad driving behavior and acknowledged that he had an issue with speeding when he was younger.

Hughes wrote in a personal statement that he grew up in California and had always been interested in law enforcement. He was part of the Orange County Sheriff’s explorer program while he was a teenager. But in his 20s, he became immature and egotistical, he wrote.

“I have always had a passion for cars and when I first started driving I was very immature,” Hughes wrote, adding that he made poor decisions and constantly drove too fast. “I would constantly attend car meets, car shows, and even go to street races … I received more speeding citations than what would be considered acceptable … At one point, my car was even impounded.”

He wrote that he matured as he grew into his late 20s. His most recent speeding ticket was in 2015, two years before he applied for the job.

Two of his references pointed out that Hughes easily lost his temper or acted out aggressively. One person wrote that Hughes doesn’t listen to both sides of an argument and often tries to get a rise out of people.

Asked how Hughes responds to people of different races and cultures, the same reference wrote that he “has friends of different races/ethnicities but my conversations with him and certain Facebook postings would give an outsider the impression that he is not a tolerant person.”

Two other references wrote that they were Hispanic and never saw issues with Hughes.

Hiring managers wrote on an assessment that although one reference had concerns about “his ego and his intentions,” the other references were good. They wrote that he “seems to have grown and matured” based on their conversations with him and a ride-along.

Crash suspension

Hughes had been suspended once.

In April 2019, Hughes was on his way to a call about a fight when he got snarled in traffic and was stopped by a red light at Sycamore School and Crowley roads. He tried to pass between two lanes with his emergency lights on but it got to the point where the cars in front of him were unable to move and he was stuck, according to an internal affairs investigation.

Hughes tried to drive through the vehicles and ended up hitting a company truck. Hughes continued to drive to the call and asked another officer to respond to the crash he had just left.

When he got to the call, Hughes realized he wasn’t needed and went back to the crash scene. While speaking with the man he had hit, the investigation says that Hughes “become involved in a prolonged argument and Officer Hughes directed numerous profanities toward (the driver) and berated and belitted him.”

The driver did not return calls and emails from a Star-Telegram reporter who sought to learn more about what happened that day.

Hughes violated four general orders, including not turning on his body camera, according to the records.

Deputy Chief Michael Shedd recommended that Hughes be suspended for two days, and then-Chief Ed Kraus agreed.

Hughes appealed the decision and in June 2020 and an arbitrator reduced the sentence to one day and Hughes was ordered to apologize to the man.